Grace Siloam Sermon Podcast

By using the phrase “upon,” Jesus is saying that God is not off in some distant place called heaven or in some distant future called the afterlife, but God has come upon the people Jesus is addressing right now. You don’t have to wait until you go to heaven when you die to experience God’s presence. It is upon you in this person Jesus. That’s part of what Jesus’ baptism was about when the heavens were torn in two and the Holy Spirit (God’s spirit) came down upon Jesus in the form of a dove....

I pray that in the days to come, we will continue to invite others to come and see so that they might hear Jesus question, “What are you looking for?” and find a loving community journeying together toward that promised land of peace and justice.

And so it is true for us as well. We have been adopted into the loving relationship of God - Father, Son, and Holy Spirit - all three expressions of the Godhead present at Jesus’ baptism. The Holy Spirit has descended upon us and we have been marked as God’s own forever. And whether we can hear it or not, there is a voice from heaven that says, this is my child whom I love and in whom I take great delight.

What shall I say! And how shall I describe this Birth to you? For this wonder fills me with astonishment. The Ancient of days has become an infant. He Who sits upon the sublime and heavenly Throne, now lies in a manger. And He Who cannot be touched, Who is simple, without complexity, and incorporeal, now lies subject to the hands of humans. He Who has broken the bonds of sinners, is now bound by an infants bands. But He has decreed that ignominy shall become honor, infamy be clothed with...

God is creating a new world with the birth of this baby, a world that would be created through him, and by him, and with him; a new humanity that would find its origin story in Jesus’ origin story.

That’s why I believe coming to this table each week is so important, because this is a place where we experience God’s grace. It’s not about beating ourselves up for how bad we are, but accepting God’s forgiveness in Christ and accepting the invitation to a heavenly banquet.

In a similar way, we engage our imaginations in the story of anticipation this Advent season and so enter into a reality beyond our current experience. We are carried, if you will, into the past as well as the future, because the season of Advent holds us in the present moment while simultaneously reminding us the Jesus’ second advent is also part of this season.

As we celebrate the Reign of Christ in our hearts and at the end of time, we recognize that God is still creating, still working, still making us into God’s beautiful beloved community. We see God at work in our own lives and in the lives of those around us, refining, reworking, transforming, and restoring the image and likeness of God that in the beginning God proclaimed as very good. And in the end, at the culmination of the Reign of Christ, God will renew all things through Christ.

Jesus affirms that in the resurrection we are claimed by God in Christ, in life and especially in death. For to God all are alive. That abundant life begins now.

It is a subtle but very important point in this story, and it is one reason that we have this lesson when we celebrate all the saints. There is wisdom in the community.

You see the point Jesus is trying to make is not to give up on trying to live a Godly life, but to live our lives as an offering to God, recognizing that God loves us no matter our failures. We live in a world that is already full of judgement and scorn, our own and others. Humility recognizes that all of us are in need of God’s grace as well as each others’ grace. As we strive to live as followers of Jesus, we offer our thanks to a God who has been revealed to us in Jesus as compassionate...

Remember the widow is asking for justice, for equal treatment under the law, for something which is unjust to be made right. And when I pray for justice, maybe there are things I can do in addition to praying, that can bring about positive change. Maybe in my praying God can help me see my place in the transformation of my relationships and community. When I persist in prayer I begin to see things from God’s perspective.

Maybe there is a difference between our bodies being made clean or healthy and our whole selves being made well. It seems the only factor that differentiates the nine from the one is gratitude, thankfulness, a recognition in the moment of God’s graciousness. Maybe it is the awakening of gratitude, of not taking things for granted, that enables us to see the miraculous in the present moment.

The point Jesus is making with his disciples and us, is that we have already been given all the faith we need. By trusting in God’s love for us in Jesus we have all the resources of God. Now that doesn’t necessarily mean we will get everything we want, but maybe Jesus is trying to help us see that if we have God and each other, all the rest will take care of itself, one mustard seed at a time.

God desires for everyone to be seen and cared for, for every human being to find the dignity of knowing themselves as a child of God. So it matters that we see each other that way, as well as ourselves.

But Jesus uses this moment to teach everyone around him that deep forgiveness results in deep love. And the image for forgiveness that he uses is the cancelation of debt. Jesus tells the people a story about a man who cancels two debts, one large and one small. The people listening to the story agree that the one who owed the most money would be the most grateful for debt forgiveness, and would respond with the most love.

Jesus is comparing himself to the shepherd and the woman. Instead of grumbling about the people he hangs out with, he suggests, the Pharisees should come to the party to celebrate their return. When I put myself in the same role that Jesus does, that of searching shepherd and seeking woman, I feel bad that I lost something in the first place. I get unstuck when I remember that I am also the lost sheep and the misplaced coin. I have been sought and found.

Baptism is not just a nice little symbolic act that we go through for our kids and ourselves to join this club we call church. Rather, baptism is a statement about who God is claiming us to be, part of a new reality and a new family that has unequivocal status in our lives. Our new last name is Christian and our parent is God and Jesus is our older sibling. We have chosen a new family and these are your new brothers and sisters.

We are all beggars at God’s table, not one of us deserves the place of honor, especially when we see who has taken the lowest seat there, It’s Jesus. But God’s love is so great that God invites us to God’s table because of Jesus.

Our relationship with God is inextricably tied to our relationship with each other. As goes one, so goes the other. Or to put it the way Jesus did, the whole Bible can be summed up in these two relationships, Love God and love your neighbor as yourself. The prophet Isaiah seems to be saying the same thing in our reading from the Hebrew scriptures today. You have to remember that, in the biblical sense, love has very little to do with how you feel about someone or something, and everything to...